Numerical Study on the Reflection of a Solitary Wave by a Vertical Wall Using the Improved Boussinesq Equation with Stokes Damping

Abstract

In this paper, we simulate the collision of a solitary wave on a vertical wall in a uniform water channel and investigate the effect of damping on the amplitude attenuation. In order to take into account the damping effect, we introduce the Stokes damping whose dissipation is dependent on the velocity of wave motion on the surface of a thin layer of oil. That is, we use the improved Boussinesq equation with Stokes damping to describe the damped wave motion. Our work mainly focuses on the amplitude attenuation of a propagating solitary wave, which may depend on the Stokes damping together with the initial position and initial amplitude of the wave. We utilize the method of images and a powerful numerical tool (functional iteration method) for solving the improved Boussinesq equation, yielding an effective numerical simulation. This enables us to find the amplitudes of the incident wave and reflected one, whose ratio is a measure of the (wave) amplitude attenuation. Accordingly, we have shown that the reflection of a solitary wave by a vertical wall is dependent on not only the initial amplitude and position of a solitary but the Stokes damping.